


The Nether

by StarFusion617



Series: Will You Let Me Hold Your Heart? [3]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst, Blazes - Freeform, Healing Potions, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Interdimensional Travel, Lava - Freeform, M/M, Mobs, Nether, Wither - Freeform, Wounds, burn - Freeform, heat - Freeform, injured, lava lakes, nether fortress, nether portal, netherrack, other dimension, wither skeleton - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:07:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27812029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarFusion617/pseuds/StarFusion617
Summary: It’s George’s first time in the Nether. What could go wrong?
Relationships: Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound
Series: Will You Let Me Hold Your Heart? [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2009854
Comments: 3
Kudos: 137
Collections: DNF26





	The Nether

**Author's Note:**

> I was gonna do George taking care of Dream but then this happened. Ah well I’ll just have to make a separate one for that haha

“George! Are you ready?!” Dream’s voice echoed through the hallway into George’s room, loud and excited.

Of course George was ready. Today was the day Dream had promised to take him into the Nether for the first time. His friend had told tales of fiery mobs and pillars of hot magma flowing down to feed huge lava lakes. George figured Dream had probably embellished some of the stories, but he still really wanted to find out what this other dimension was like.

“George!”

George jumped and spun away from his mirror, where he’d been fitting his chestplate over a plain black undershirt.

“Coming!” he yelled to Dream before grabbing his boots and running down the hallway.

He managed to pull one boot on before he got to the living room, and Dream looked up just as he stopped to get the other one properly equipped.

Dream was already wearing his mask, but George knew he was smiling.

“Alright, let’s go. Grab a shield, too. It’s useful against the fire,” Dream said, turning to grab his diamond sword from where it was leaning against the wall.

George followed suit with his own diamond weapon, and he made sure he took one of the shields as well. He was still a bit awkward with shields, but if Dream said he’d need one, he wasn’t inclined to argue.

Dream glanced back to make sure George was ready before opening the door and leading the way out of the house.

“Why do you keep your portal outside the house? Isn’t that less convenient?” George asked as he closed the door behind them.

“I never built a mob-proof room to put it in, and I don’t want mobs coming through into the house,” Dream answered.

Even though what Dream said made sense, it took them a good five minutes to walk to the portal.

Dream led them into a clearing in the spruce woods, pushing aside snow-covered holly bushes to reveal the open space. The Nether portal stood in the middle, the dark obsidian a sharp contrast to the white snow surrounding it.

“Whoa, it’s so pretty,” George commented, walking up to run his fingers along the obsidian. To his surprise, it was extremely cold, pulsing with an otherworldly energy.

“Yeah, but it doesn’t lead anywhere quite so enticing,” Dream replied, coming to stand at George’s side. “We’ll go in together. You’ll feel dizzy for a minute as you cross worlds, but it’ll fade on the other side. Ready?”

“Whenever you are,” George answered, suddenly more nervous than excited. He’d been looking forward to this for days, but now that the moment had come, it was a little terrifying. He’d literally be traveling between dimensions.

Then he felt Dream’s hand slip into his, linking their fingers together.

George glanced sideways. Dream wasn’t looking at him, but he could sense the hesitation. Dream wouldn’t go until he did.

George took a deep breath, tightened his grip on Dream’s hand, and stepped forward.

It didn’t happen immediately. Dream remained a solid presence beside him, and the trees were still there, if a little warped through the portal’s reflective surface.

But then George felt a suction tugging at his limbs, and his weight tipped backwards. He clamped his teeth shut over a scream as he fell, only just noticing Dream’s hand still in his. His vision was full of purple, swirling and spinning, making him feel sick. He screwed his eyes shut, but it didn’t help.

Then there was solid ground under his feet again, and he was pulled forward. He stumbled and nearly lost his balance, only saved from falling by Dream tugging him back upright.

He’d stumbled forward out of the portal, and now it was hard to remember wanting to throw up a moment ago.

Ahead of him, a world of red and orange opened up in flares of heat. The air shimmered with its intensity, and George already felt sweat forming in beads along the edge of his helmet.

“Welcome to the Nether,” Dream said from his left, making George start. He’d forgotten his friend was there.

“So what do we do?” George asked.

“Well, we came here partly because I need to gather some blaze rods. I’m running out of my potion stores. Which would mean we have to find a Nether fortress, but I’ve been using this portal for a long time. I already know where the nearest fortress is,” Dream answered, taking a step forward. “This way.”

As they walked, George couldn’t help staring at the world around him. Dream hadn’t exaggerated the lava lakes.

They were standing on a huge platform of netherrack, suspended above a gurgling lava lake by at least forty blocks. Lava gushed down hillsides and across the floor, pooling in low spots. Lava falls flowed off the edges of the platform, feeding into the lake below them.

Across the landscape, zombie pigmen roamed in groups, squealing and grunting at each other. Strange creatures with dark, bulky heads swam in the lava lake, bobbing up and down as they moved.

A stifling mist hung over the whole world, obscuring far away landforms and giving an eerie quality to the edges of the lake. George couldn’t see the ceiling.

“Pretty neat, right?” Dream’s voice came from beside him, causing him to snap his gaze back to his companion.

“Yeah, a lot bigger than I expected. It’s very open,” George answered vaguely. Dream only nodded.

“How far away is the fortress?” George asked, trying to pass the time.

“Not too far. We should be there in another few minutes. It’s actually really lucky there’s one so close. I’ve heard stories of adventurers dying in their search for the ‘elusive black castles,’” Dream answered.

George shuddered despite the heat. Suddenly he was glad he had a traveling partner who knew what he was doing. Exploring the fiery Nether alone would be terrifying, and he didn’t see how people didn’t get lost.

“What was it like?” he found himself asking. Dream tilted his head.

“What was what like?”

“Exploring the Nether by yourself,” George clarified. He watched Dream closely, expecting a reaction, but the wolf-hybrid only looked thoughtful.

“I had done as much research as I could before going in, so I can’t say I was surprised. I knew at least somewhat what I was getting into, even if fighting blazes and wither skeletons wasn’t a piece of cake. I made sure I knew how to navigate back to the portal, and then it was all learning to fight the Nether’s mobs,” he eventually answered. George found it fairly easy to believe him, even as he noted only Dream could have truly never been scared of the Nether.

“How were you not scared of dying?” George asked, curious now.

To his surprise, Dream turned to look at him. His friend’s ears were turned backwards in faint alarm.

“Of course I was scared. I had only a shield and a sword to fight with, and my armor was already half-broken. Swinging at fireballs and throwing my shield up against explosions was the last thing I wanted to do.”

George was silent, finding it hard to imagine his friend cowering behind a shield. He’d seen Dream vulnerable, sure, but never during a fight.

“George.”

George reluctantly turned to look at Dream, frustration rising quickly when he realized he couldn’t see his friend’s expression.

“It’s okay to be scared. Actually, this is the Nether. You _should_ be scared. Being scared could save your life. This isn’t my first time here, so of course I’m not terrified. But believe me, when I first got here I jumped at everything that moved,” Dream reassured, his hand now resting comfortingly on George’s shoulder.

George spent another few seconds staring into the mask, but it remained blank. He bit the inside of his cheek and turned forcefully back forwards.

“Let’s just get to the fortress.”

When he took a step, Dream followed him without a word.

———

Dream hadn’t been lying. They arrived at the fortress barely a minute later.

Dream led the way straight onto the top, following an open-topped corridor that extended straight across the lava lake below them.

George followed, glancing down before pulling away from the edge, focusing his gaze instead on the dark brick of the fortress.

Dream went straight for a staircase that George hadn’t noticed. The carved stone steps blended into the wall, making it nearly impossible to see from far away.

They descended into near-darkness, the dark walls suddenly becoming enclosing. George fought a sense of claustrophobia at the long, narrow corridors, following Dream closely as the wolf navigated through a series of interconnecting tunnels. Weirdly enough, they met nothing along the way.

Soon they came to a corner leading to the right, and Dream held an arm out to stop George from going further. He motioned around the corner, so George cautiously peered out.

The corridor extended up a small set of stairs before opening up into a flat platform. In the center was a wire cage holding a spinning token, and surrounding the cage were multiple fiery, flying monsters.

George quickly pulled back and turned to look at Dream, who was standing behind him.

“What are those?!” he demanded, backing away from the corner.

“Blazes,” Dream answered simply. “Wait here. I need to kill some.”

He was gone before George could say another word, the diamond blade of his sword flashing in the dark.

George peeked around the corner again as Dream disappeared. His friend broke into a jog and charged the blazes, dodging around fireballs and slicing through their metal bodies in the moments of opportunity the fiery volleys offered.

George fought down fear for Dream as he watched, reminding himself that his friend had done this countless times before. He’d be okay.

A few minutes later, he heard another round of fireballs go off, but this time it was accompanied by the sound of a fireball exploding against something.

George straightened at the sound, having expected the normal _whoosh_ of the fireballs passing harmlessly by.

A second later, Dream appeared around the corner, pressing himself against the wall next to George.

“Ah, fuck.”

“Are you okay?” George asked, turning so he could better scan his friend. He noticed with a turn of his stomach that the wolf was holding one arm close to his chest. He remained silent.

“Dream? Dream, what happened?!” George asked desperately, fear coloring his voice.

“I’ll be fine, George, it’s just a burn,” Dream finally answered, letting go of his arm with his other hand to inspect it.

“Just a burn? I know you better than that. How bad is it?” George insisted, his voice softer now.

Dream hesitated. “Nothing we can’t heal with potions when we get back.”

“Dream.”

“Okay, it’s pretty bad, but I’m serious. I’ll be fine once we get home,” Dream said, holding his arm out so George could see.

George recoiled and tried to focus on the last part of that answer when he saw the skin blistering along the unprotected side of Dream’s forearm. At least it wasn’t his sword arm.

“Okay, but we should go back. That looks like it hurts,” George suggested, already stepping away.

Dream nodded and sheathed his sword, which George noticed had been leaning against the wall.

“Yeah, we can go back. I got enough.”

———

They managed to make it to the staircase before something happened.

Dream was leading, since George didn’t know the way back. He never saw the figure creeping closer to George as they neared the stairs.

George was about to step onto the first stair, Dream a few steps above him, when he felt it.

Pain seared through his shoulder, spreading quickly through his arm and back, burning like liquid fire. He screamed, but the sound was suddenly muffled, and he didn’t realize he’d fallen until his knees hit the floor.

Vaguely he registered Dream’s shout and saw his friend jump off the stairs to run back to him, but the sounds came from far away and his vision was rapidly blurring.

Something hot and wet burned against his cheek, so he went to touch it, but the fire revitalized along his arm and sent blackness swamping his vision. Ringing filled his ears, and he lost the feeling of the ground against his knees.

Cold brick pressed against the side of his head, and he realized he must have fallen onto his side. There was pressure on his arm, but he couldn’t turn his head to find out what it was.

Then something warm touched the side of his face, and he blinked. The blackness retreated enough to allow him to see, and he noticed Dream’s face hovering above him. His friend was holding his head in both hands, lips moving like he was saying something, but George couldn’t hear what it was. Dream’s hands retracted, and George tried to follow the movement, but his friend’s face disappeared from view a second later.

Suddenly the coldness of the brick was gone, and the floor no longer pressed against his side. He could see the ceiling now, and his boots didn’t touch the ground.

Dream’s face appeared again, peering down at him, and George was glad he could see it even though sounds were still muffled. Even the blank white of the mask gave him some comfort. His friend was carrying him.

Then the masked face moved back, farther above George, and jarring movement ignited the pain in his shoulder.

It had spread down along his arm and into his hand, and he knew he must be screaming. He tried to claw at his arm with his other hand, desperate to get the fire out of his blood. He couldn’t feel his own nails, and he felt the fire spread.

Then his good arm was suddenly pulled against his side, restrained between his side and his friend’s stomach. Dream said something, and George could hear the vibrations from where his head was resting against the wolf’s chest. It gave him something to focus on other than the fire.

Dream must have noticed, because he kept talking, and George tried to ignore the pain flaring in his arm and shoulder in favor of listening to the different vibrations.

It wasn’t much, but it was something.

George couldn’t tell how long it was before the environment around them changed. The time was filled with heat, pain, and the jarring motions of Dream carrying him, and it was hard to keep track of how long it’d been.

Then there was an intense feeling of nausea, followed by cool air against George’s skin. He realized he was covered in a thin sheen of sweat.

The clearer air gave sounds a better quality, and George’s hearing was starting to come back. He could hear Dream’s heaving breaths above him, and suddenly realized his friend must have run all the way back from the Nether. The cooler air was from the overworld.

The trip back to the house was short compared to the trek back from the fiery pits of hell, and not too much later George heard the slam of a door closing behind them.

Dream went straight to the living room and laid George on the couch, which George was grateful was open and didn’t have a back. It made it more comfortable.

George heard more doors open and close before Dream returned, and then his face appeared above George.

The mask was gone, probably thrown to the ground in uncaring panic, and Dream’s eyes were wide with fear.

George wanted to tell his friend there was nothing to be scared of, but when he tried all that came out was a whine. The fire was still raging in his arm and shoulder, and had now spread down his back and up into his neck, making his thoughts slow and his movements weak.

“I know, I know. You’re okay. I have a potion here, but I don’t think you can drink anything right now, so I’m gonna use a splash potion,” Dream said from above him, and relief flooded George as he realized he could hear his friend again.

A couple seconds later glass shattered, and George felt the healing effects of the potion starting to work. It didn’t do much, but it took the edge off the fire and gave him a moment’s reprieve.

Dream still looked terrified, but his expression was slowly becoming calmer as he pulled George’s chestplate off.

“Okay, I’m gonna have to do the rest the traditional way. The potion got the wither effects out, but the wound is still open. I’m gonna have to stitch it up,” Dream explained, pulling George’s ruined shirt away from his wounded shoulder.

George struggled to watch as Dream left to grab what he’d need, finding that using the muscles to turn his head was hard. He still felt incredibly weak and out of it.

“Okay, ready?” Dream clearly didn’t expect an answer, because he only paused a moment before diving straight in.

George was shocked at the pain of the needle. The wither, as Dream had called it, had been excruciating, but the raw wound wasn’t much better.

“...h-hurts...”

Dream’s eyes turned sad, and George thought he saw them gloss over with unshed tears.

“I know, I’m sorry. It won’t in a minute, I promise,” the wolf answered, still working the needle back and forth.

George closed his eyes and turned his head away, wishing he could hide from the pain as easily as he could hide from the sight of it.

But then Dream was pulling back, and the needle’s point no longer pierced George’s skin.

A second later, George was pulled into a hug, gently encased in Dream’s arms. He felt Dream’s chin resting on the top of his head as he curled into the embrace.

The pain in his shoulder was still there, but it was easily ignored now that he felt safe. Something wet trickled down his cheeks, and he realized he was crying.

“You’re okay, you’re okay,” Dream was murmuring above him, and he couldn’t figure out whether it was to convince himself or George.

It didn’t matter, though. Maybe they both needed it.

George fell into an exhausted sleep not much later.

———

George woke to the sound of cooking, some kind of meat sizzling in a pan. He could also hear Dream’s footsteps in the kitchen, and realized he was still laying on the couch. Dream must have decided not to get either of their beds full of blood before George could shower and change.

He sat up slowly, his head pounding faintly, and rested there for a moment in an upright position against the arm of the couch.

Dream’s footsteps stopped and then restarted, and he appeared a moment later in front of George, holding a plate of food.

Dream set the food down on their living room table and sat next to George, turned so he could see his friend better.

“How are you feeling?” Dream asked, his voice soft. George appreciated the effort when his headache didn’t get worse.

“Better. Thanks for healing me. Did you carry me all the way back here?” George answered, curious now that he wasn’t in so much pain.

Dream’s expression grew even more serious. “Yeah. You got hit by a wither skeleton. When those things make contact, the wound is infected with the wither effect, which causes extreme pain and loss of senses as it takes hold. Then it spreads, and if the victim doesn’t get help in time, it will stop your heart and lungs.”

George was silent. He had had no idea of the effects of the wither, even though he’d known what wither skeletons were. Now he understood why Dream had looked so terrified.

“What did you do?” he finally asked.

“I killed the thing and tried to get you to respond, but it was already too late. So I brought you back here as fast as possible to heal you. It’s a good thing I hadn’t burned my sword arm, or I don’t know what would have happened,” Dream answered.

“Wait, your burn. You carried me back with that?”

“I’ve been burned by blazes many times before. It wasn’t too hard to ignore it when you were suffering from the withering effect,” Dream said dismissively.

George had one more question.

“I remember you restraining my arm at some point, but I don’t remember anything else except the extreme need to free it. What was I doing?” he asked.

“Victims of the wither effect will try to injure themselves in an attempt to get the wither out of their bodies. Usually they claw at the wound, which can make it a lot worse if they’re not restrained in time,” Dream answered.

“How do you know so much about this?” George asked.

“I read all about it before I went in my first time and in the time after. I wanted to be prepared, I guess. But I want to ask you, why do people try to dig the wither effect out? What’s it like?” Dream asked curiously, and George couldn’t even be mad at him for reawakening the memories. Dream was only trying to gather more information.

“It’s like there’s fire in your blood, and you can’t get away from it, so your instincts tell you to get to it and get rid of it,” he answered simply.

Dream looked like he was about to start thinking of all the things George had gone through in the time he’d been carried back, so George put hand on his shoulder.

“Thank you. For not leaving me there,” he said seriously, watching Dream’s eyes widen before he was pulled into another hug.

“I would never. You mean so much to me, George.”

George was about to say the same, but he decided to just enjoy the moment instead while he was warm and safe with Dream.

**Author's Note:**

> I have an Instagram under the same name as here, starfusion617. Originally it was just an art account, but recently I’ve started adding dteam drawings, so I figured it’s relevant.
> 
> https://www.instagram.com/starfusion617/
> 
> Also, I’m going to start a discord server. I’m planning on using it for giving you guys updates, but I’m hoping it could also become a pretty cool community. If you want to talk, chill, or hang out, welcome!
> 
> https://discord.gg/R3T73Nttzk


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